Monday, July 21, 2008

Cantaloupe Preserves

We tried a new recipe- Cantaloupe Preserves. And yes: Every.Single.Person I mentioned this to has said "I didn't know you could can cantaloupe!"

After our little experiment, I'm not convinced you really can.

I think next time I wouldn't leave the fruit sitting for so long- a LOT of water came out. Also, I'd taste it before adding all the sugar. It's unbelievably sweet- way too sweet for toast or biscuits. It might make a nice layer between cake, or maybe in a thumb print cookie. It's gorgeous to look at.

In general, preserves are created by mixing fruit with an equal amount of sugar and letting them sit till juices come out (enough to dissolve the sugar.) The mixture is then boiled together, and then can be left in shallow pans for the fruit to "plump up" before you can it.

The recipe was taken from the 1970's edition of the Kerr Home Canning & Freezing Book. I'm not even going to put it here, because I can't recommend it...but at least now you know! Cantaloupe CAN be canned. Just do it different than I did.